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Akshay Kumar speaks about 'Tees Maar Khan'

Tell us a bit about your movie & what role you are playing? Well for now, I am ‘Tees Maar Khan’ & the Con is On… I am pretty much the complete opposite of the notorious ‘Robin Hood!!’ I ‘Love’ to, sorry I ‘Live’ to steal, but under no circumstances would I give it to anyone else, let alone the poor… I’m an un-educated Con-Artist who in the midst of trying to ‘Rob’ a train, I have to ‘Con’ an entire village into making an Oscar winning movie in order for the ‘Great Train Robbery’ to be successful. But wait, what happens when the stupid train doesn’t turn up, Ha! I’m left Directing the dumbest of villages & it’s two ‘highly dramatic enthusiastic’ leads ‘Kat’ & Akshaye K’ into making a movie that of course hasn’t been written… This is only half of it, Farah Khan has made an incredibly fast paced movie with a masala of comedy, dance, envious romance, & scenes to Die for ;o) I’m in the middle of Dubbing for it right now & I keep being sent home because I can’t stop laughing in-between scenes so my voice is going, therefore they won’t let me dubb ;o) This is how Happy this movie makes me!!! ;o)

TeesMaar Khan is already being touted as the next big one. It’s the Farah Khan-Akshay Kumar combination for the first time. What’s your feeling right now? You are most definitely asking the wrong Actor!! I would never sit here & say ‘My movie is going to Rock, It’s going to have the biggest opening’ & all that Jazz, I’m way too experienced or should I say not stupid enough to Toot my own horn or my movie like that… FK & AK making a movie together for the first time is amazing in my eyes, I’ve admired the woman for nearly two decades now, so my real feelings right now are ‘honoured’, ‘excited’ & of course ‘nervous’ & ‘unfortunately judged’, but that never phases me.

How was it working with Farah as a Director as well as a Co-Producer? Well in all honesty, it’s been the smoothest, fastest, easiest & most enjoyable ride in movie making I’ve probably ever had. What can I say the Woman is a perfectionist, she knows what she wants & she won’t shut-up until she gets it. She’s exactly what I need, she lets me be an Actor, she takes care of everything else, the costumes, the sets, the script, the dialogues, the back-ground, the songs, the choreography, she literally Directs everything, & for a woman with 3 kids she has the stamina of 10 men. We shot most of this film in an extremely hot, dusty, deserted village in India’s hottest month, & our Farah was an absolute trooper, she has made this movie so well in quite frankly rather difficult circumstances, I mean come on I found it hard most days, & I had a van I coulds sit & freshen up in when the sun became unbearable & the sand storms became too strong. Farah still never stopped, I feel she deserves a medal for her movie making efforts as well as skill... She always pays great attention to every detail & organizes her work so well, most Directors need to lean on brilliant assistants, as great as our crew was, Farah leans on no-one in life…

As an actor, this year has been the most crucial one for you. You’ve had the maximum releases for any actor in your league. How does that feel?It feels the same as any other year ;o) It’s been a long time now that I’ve been releasing the most amount of movies per year. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of Tea but right now that’s how I like to work. Obviously the gamble is much much higher, but I love to make movies. Of course if they do well that’s great, but as you can see not all releases can be Block Busters. But I get my pleasure out of making films & entertaining daily, I don’t have the patience yet to build up one single movie for one entire year, not yet anyway ;o)

Does TeesMaar Khan bring Akshay back in the kind of a role that audience love to see him most? Yeah! You could say that, but as an Actor I feel people should realize that in ‘this Industry’ it is dangerous if you only do what the audience expects, as it is inevitably dangerous to attempt anything new as well. Hence the reason not every ambitious movie works, one aims to please & show versatility but 90% of the time it goes unwanted… Whoever said Show Business was easy ay!!

In the film, you come together with Katrina as a couple more than two years after 'Singh Is Kinng'. After all in 'De Dana Dan' and 'Blue', there was hardly any screen time that you shared. That must have been some reunion for sure. Ah yes!! Our beloved Kat, she’s like a colourful stain on my shirt, bright & very loud but I’d miss her if she wasn’t there. Just wait she’s going to send me such a nasty message after reading this ;o) not to worry she knows I think the world of her, & I am proud to say as a Producer & Co-star this movie couldn’t have been complete without her, she just grows with every opportunity she’s given, amazingly she has played an ‘Item Girl’ like never before. She’s always been great to share a screen with, she annoys the hell out of me but I wouldn’t want it any other way, I always look forward to our yearly movie together, & I must say everyone Kat has hammed her way through this movie like a true Jagtap, congratulations Kat there is now nothing you can’t do ;o)

Meanwhile, you have worked with Farah also for the first time. Was it 'let's do it quick' approach that the two of you share come in handy? Not once would we say ‘Lets do it quick’, ‘Lets not Faff’ was probably the term used. We are two people that like to wake up early and throw ourselves into our work, no faffing, no time wasting, no if’s, and’s, but’s or maybe’s, just pure dedication. We work well together because we come from the same school of ‘work hard, try harder,’ we both dream of being the Invictous duo of Bollywood, the ‘Unconquerable ones’. If you don’t have passion for work, then don’t come, you can see our passion literally oozes out of us & I believe that’s how it should be…

TeesMaar Khan is already being touted as the next big one. It’s the Farah Khan-Akshay Kumar combination for the first time. What’s your feeling right now? Ahhhhh you are asking the wrong actor, what I feel is happy humbled suspense, I will never sit here & say ‘My movie is gonna Rock’ I’m too experienced or should I say not stupid enough to toot my own horn like that. What I feel is happy, I love Farah Khan, I love Kat & Akshaye Khanna, I love all the music & I love what we have all created. Whether it works is still a blessing in disguise right now…

Coming back to the core of 'TeesMaar Khan', you play a conman in the film. Can we expect an out and out desi, racy and pacy masala affair? Where there is Farah Khan there is always racy pacy masala! This has been shot & edited like a dream, fast & full of humour. But this is no brainless comedy, please bring your entire head along with your family & every other body part for that matter, for our darling Sheila will most definitely make you want to dance down the aisle’s for sure ;o)

Tell us about some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had while shooting for Tees Maar Khan. What’s not to tell, we had a blast, we laughed our way through practically every day, even the sand storms in Malshed didn’t stop us from shooting, everyone knows there’s no stopping me or Farah, mine & Kats face was being literally shredded to bits by the sand & I still made her laugh, (but that was just to see her choke really)

This film has also formed a new bond of friendship between you and Salman Khan. He agreed to do a cameo in the film and then you donated a sizable amount to his charity foundation. How does it feel? Actually me & Salman have quietly admired & respected each other for years, it’s just we have different life styles so outside of work we never see each other. I’ve loved the man for time, donating to his charity was the least I could do, he’s gifted me a brilliant painting also which me & Tina adore. You see Bollywood isn’t always what it seems…

What was the toughest part about playing TMK? Oh the toughest part is yet to come, peoples expectations is the tough part, playing TMK was the Best part!!

Does that mean in 2011, we can well expect 'PatialaHouse', 'Thank You', 'Joker' and 'Desi Boyz' to release one after another? Yeah! If all goes according to plan I should have 4 releases lined up for next year, busy as always but totally worth it, I have an array of characters for you all in 2011 & all I can pray for is your love & support not only for me but for our industry…

Why do you think Farah Khan will be third time lucky with TeesMaar Khan? Because this time, I’m not just a cameo J… One thing about Farah, she isn’t lucky, she’s a woman that makes her own luck on her own two feet. She’s the Best female/male Masala Director in the business. Her secret is, she’s not selfish when she makes movies & she never falls in-love with her movie TOO much, her head is always extremely clear. That is why she will never fail, our Farah is the perfect product of what commercial cinema really is, she pleases the average eye…

Give us three reasons why TMK is a must-watch this festive season? Because 1) I’m the lead… 2) Kat is my Heroine… & 3) Because Farah Directed it… Or it could be because it’s Fun, Fast, & Fabulous. I of course being the ‘Fun’, Farah is the ‘Fast’ & Kat is most definitely the ‘Fabulous!!’

Farah has a great track record, what can the audience expect from the ‘Farah-Akshay partnership? Pure Fun!! There is only one emotion in this movie & that my friend is Loud, in your Face, Can’t Miss a second of it, Racy Pacy, Fist in your Mouth, Popcorn all over the Floor, Comedy! Of the purest kind…

Everyone’s talking about Sheela Ki Jawani? What do you think about that song and Katrina’s new thin avatar? All the credit goes to Kat on this one, she has done a superbly classy & very sexy rendition of Sheila Ki Jawani. As an eye witness I can tell you she ate well but trained even harder… She’s definitely never performed better, Farah has brought out a side in Kat I don’t think even Kat knew she had. Hat’s off to you girl